ᐅ Gas valve and handbrake of the heating system: Is this explanation correct?
Created on: 22 Nov 2020 15:05
V
vaderle
Hello everyone,
I have been living in my new house for four months.
Our house (16cm (6 inches) aerated concrete precast walls + insulation) has underfloor heating on both the ground and first floors, as well as a heating system (air-to-water heat pump) from Vaillant.
In every room, I have individual temperature controllers, and at the location of the heating system (utility room), there is a separate control panel from Vaillant where I can set the general desired temperature as well as time-limited temperature adjustments (for example, lowering the desired temperature by 4°C (7°F) at night).
At first, I set the temperature in many rooms to around 21°C (70°F), 19°C (66°F) in the bedroom, and 22°C (72°F) in the bathroom. The central control panel was set to a desired temperature of 23°C (73°F).
Since it was almost always warmer in the rooms than the temperature set on the controllers due to good insulation and outside temperatures, heating was almost never activated. Only in the utility room did it seem like continuous heating took place during the day. As a result, the temperature there was around 24-25°C (75-77°F). This was clearly too warm for me because food is also stored there. Both the separate room controller (set to 18°C (64°F)) and the central control panel (with the central desired temperature of 23°C (73°F)) in the utility room were set lower. I therefore spoke with the heating engineer.
He explained the following:
The central control panel is like the gas pedal of a car, and the individual room controllers are like handbrakes.
So I was always “driving with the handbrake on” (individual room controller set lower than the central control panel in the utility room). This caused the warm water in the underfloor heating system to accumulate in the utility room.
He advised me to set all the room controllers to a higher temperature (for example, 25°C (77°F))—in other words, release the handbrake—and then slowly lower the central desired temperature setting (the gas) until the desired effect is achieved. This way, the air-to-water heat pump would run continuously because the actual temperatures in the rooms would never match the set values, and the utility room would no longer experience this accumulated heat. He also said that in a house with insulation and an air-to-water heat pump, it is good for the system to run continuously.
Is this explanation using the gas pedal and handbrake analogy correct?
I have been living in my new house for four months.
Our house (16cm (6 inches) aerated concrete precast walls + insulation) has underfloor heating on both the ground and first floors, as well as a heating system (air-to-water heat pump) from Vaillant.
In every room, I have individual temperature controllers, and at the location of the heating system (utility room), there is a separate control panel from Vaillant where I can set the general desired temperature as well as time-limited temperature adjustments (for example, lowering the desired temperature by 4°C (7°F) at night).
At first, I set the temperature in many rooms to around 21°C (70°F), 19°C (66°F) in the bedroom, and 22°C (72°F) in the bathroom. The central control panel was set to a desired temperature of 23°C (73°F).
Since it was almost always warmer in the rooms than the temperature set on the controllers due to good insulation and outside temperatures, heating was almost never activated. Only in the utility room did it seem like continuous heating took place during the day. As a result, the temperature there was around 24-25°C (75-77°F). This was clearly too warm for me because food is also stored there. Both the separate room controller (set to 18°C (64°F)) and the central control panel (with the central desired temperature of 23°C (73°F)) in the utility room were set lower. I therefore spoke with the heating engineer.
He explained the following:
The central control panel is like the gas pedal of a car, and the individual room controllers are like handbrakes.
So I was always “driving with the handbrake on” (individual room controller set lower than the central control panel in the utility room). This caused the warm water in the underfloor heating system to accumulate in the utility room.
He advised me to set all the room controllers to a higher temperature (for example, 25°C (77°F))—in other words, release the handbrake—and then slowly lower the central desired temperature setting (the gas) until the desired effect is achieved. This way, the air-to-water heat pump would run continuously because the actual temperatures in the rooms would never match the set values, and the utility room would no longer experience this accumulated heat. He also said that in a house with insulation and an air-to-water heat pump, it is good for the system to run continuously.
Is this explanation using the gas pedal and handbrake analogy correct?
halmi schrieb:
I would also set the water temperature to a range more suitable for the heat pump, around 48 degrees.I need to ask again here. When I search for supply temperature for domestic hot water, I always find information like this:
"The supply temperature should not fall below 55°C (131°F). In homes with water heating from a hot water storage tank, the controller temperature of the tank should be around 60°C (140°F), and the temperature in the pipes themselves should not be less than 55°C (131°F)."
or
"In a hot water storage tank that keeps hot water in reserve, the domestic hot water temperature must never drop below 60 degrees Celsius (140°F), otherwise Legionella bacteria can multiply."
or
"Check, in hot water circulation systems, that the temperature at each outlet is at least 55 degrees Celsius (131°F). To do this, you may need to temporarily disable the scald protection."
halmi schrieb:
With typical household water volumes up to 300 liters (80 gallons) in the storage tank, you’d have to be quite neglected to develop a Legionella problem here.
Just my 2 centsThat sounds reasonable. On the other hand, what do you do during a longer absence (e.g., vacation, etc.)?
N
nordanney1 Dec 2020 11:03netuser schrieb:
Sounds plausible. On the other hand, what do you do during a longer absence (e.g. vacation, etc.)?Pray 😎 .For example, you can simply let the water run for a while before taking a shower. Legionella bacteria tend to accumulate more in the pipes than in the hot water tank, which is regularly reheated.
Some heat pumps also have a legionella prevention program, which heats the water to 60-70°C (140-158°F) either once or regularly for a short period to kill off any accumulated bacteria.
However, after that, you should run the hot water through all the pipes for a while. It’s important to leave the house and ventilate thoroughly during this time, because inhaling legionella through steam or aerosols can cause health issues.
Ingesting legionella through drinking water is much less problematic.
However, after that, you should run the hot water through all the pipes for a while. It’s important to leave the house and ventilate thoroughly during this time, because inhaling legionella through steam or aerosols can cause health issues.
Ingesting legionella through drinking water is much less problematic.
F
FoxMulder241 Dec 2020 18:52Tolentino schrieb:
Some heat pumps have a legionella program that heats the water to 60-70°C (140-158°F) once or periodically for a short time to kill any bacteria that may have accumulated.
However, you should run the hot water through all pipes for a while afterward. It’s best to leave the house during this process and ventilate thoroughly, because legionella bacteria pose the greatest risk when inhaled via steam or aerosols.
Drinking the bacteria is much less dangerous. That sounds dangerous. We’ve never done anything like that before.
I’m surprised we’ve survived this long. 😉 😀
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